When comparing Dwarf Fortress vs Team Fortress 2, the Slant community recommends Team Fortress 2 for most people. In the question“What are the best games on Linux?” Team Fortress 2 is ranked 6th while Dwarf Fortress is ranked 40th. The most important reason people chose Team Fortress 2 is:
The game runs on Windows, OS X and Linux machines.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Lots of ways to die, no ways to win
Starvation, riots, goblins raiders stealing your babies, goblin war parties stealing your lives, elephants, vampires, werewolves, werebears, werebadgers, carp, digging into an aquifer, digging into lava, digging into the nesting area of a Forgotten Beast, selling wood to hippies, insanity, drowning in knee-deep water, and being attacked by your own dismembered finger.
There are a lot of ways for dwarves to die. Age really isn't one ever heard of. After playing this game long enough, you'll realize why dwarves don't like going outside. Everything from harpies to dangerous man-eating carp is everywhere. Some of them are humorous, but most are a lesson.
The entire game acts as a massive learning experience. Don't tell your dwarves to fish; they don't know how to swim. Wall off your fortress or a necromancer will make your lunch attack you. Don't dig too far down, or something scary will follow you back up.
There is no victory, only glorious deaths. What goals you set in the game are up to you. Make small, simple goals that you know you can complete. "Surviving for 100 years" is like "curing cancer". Not technically 'impossible', but it might just be easier to settle on building a bridge for now.
Pro Massive randomly-generated worlds persist across multiple games
Estimating one meter per tile, the smallest possible Dwarf Fortress world is roughly 13 kilometers on each side, and about 400 layers deep. The largest world is about 197 kilometers (123 miles) on each side. Each world has its own randomly-generated history with thousands of notable figures, warring factions, and numerous settlements of various races. Any number of fortresses and/or adventurers can be played in a particular world, though only one at a time.
Pro Renowned for depth of simulation and emergent gameplay
The ultimate goal of Dwarf Fortress is no less than a total fantasy world simulator. Its simulated systems include geology, metallurgy, fluid pressure, temperature, combustion and phase transitions (melting, evaporation, etc.), shear and tensile strength, ballistics and gravity, anatomy and tissue damage, growth and maturation of animals and plants, emotional states, life goals, and alcohol dependence.
Pro Base game is free (supported by donations)
From the Bay 12 Games donations page:
Bay 12 is dedicated to providing original games free of charge, but that doesn't mean it is free for us to make them. We've been online since December 2000, and you can help Bay 12 Games continue to thrive. If you've enjoyed any of our games, and you are able to give, we accept financial support.
Pro Continuous active development is planned for decades to come
Dwarf Fortress was started in 2002 and first released in 2006. Tarn and Zach Adams, its creators, have estimated that version 1.0 will be done in "about twenty years" and development will continue beyond that point.
Pro "Starter Pack" offers a streamlined introduction
The DF Starter Pack, formerly Lazy Newb Pack, is a collection of community-created enhancements to the interface and visual presentation of Dwarf Fortress. Find it here.
Pro Sim-like "Fortress" and roguelike "Adventurer" modes
Dwarf Fortress offers two primary ways to play. In Fortress Mode, the player oversees a small group of dwarves who embark to build a new settlement. Individual dwarves cannot be controlled directly; instead, the player supplies objectives and constraints and the A.I. decides exactly what is done by whom. Adventurer Mode presents a more classic roguelike experience, wherein the player controls a single character and can explore the entire world (including previous player-made fortresses).
Two secondary modes are also provided: Legends Mode, which allows you to browse through all of the notable people, places, objects and events in a particular world's history; and the Object Testing Arena, where AI combat scenarios can be played out with any arbitrary combination of creatures and weaponry.
Pro Cross-platform
The game runs on Windows, OS X and Linux machines.
Pro Pretty good VR support and options
To enable VR support, type -vr in console.
TF2 has 8 modes in which to control the game. They can be changed with the command vr_moveaim_mode in console. They offer choice in what combination of aiming and steering should be coupled to the rift and mouse and introduce the concept of dead zones - an area of the screen that controls differently when aiming or steering within its bounds than outside them.
Typing vr_calibration in console gives access to adjusting interpupillary distance (distance between eyes). You can get that information from an optician or use the calibration tool to help figure it out and set it there.
Calibration will help set accurate render point (camera position) and reduce nausea.
Pro Fair free to play model
This game is mostly pay-to-gain, as in to get more weapons. You can randomly get things, though. You can use the things you randomly get to be also used in crafting recipes to make other things.
Pro Includes Mann vs. Machine, a ridiculously fun co-op mode
Mann vs. Machine is a co-op mode in Team Fortress 2 that is comprised of gameplay in which 6 players team up to stop AI robots from deploying a bomb. Though not the central gameplay of Team Fortress 2, it is a mode that allows for co-op play to be enjoyed with the characters of the game.
Mann vs machine works quite well over LAN and is very fun to boot.
Pro Hectic FPS gameplay that utilizes 9 distinct classes, each with lots of varied items
TF2 has 9 playable classes - Scout, Soldier, Pyro, Demoman, Heavy, Engineer, Medic, Sniper and Spy. This allows for a range of playstyles. For example, the Heavy, starting with 300 health (going up to 450), wielding a machine gun and usually assisted by a Medic, will be commonly found on the front-lines soaking up lots of damage and pulling the enemy team's focus; at the same time the Engineer will try and avoid direct battle as much as possible, providing infrastructure (teleports, sentry, dispensers). Add to this hundreds of weapons for each class providing different stats and you have an impressive amount of variety in gameplay.
Pro Tons to do in the game with plenty of game modes and plenty of community mods
TF2 has more than 10 game modes, plus variations on those, as well as community mods that offer a wide range of objective-based play. Classic game modes include Capture the Flag, Control Point, King of the Hill and Payload. There's also Mann vs. Machine, a co-operative game mode where you play against waves of AI controlled enemies.
Pro Engaged, active, fun, and creative community give the game a welcoming feel, even for outsiders
The TF2 community is know for actively engaging in different TF2 related activities. They create shorts using the source filmmaker, sell items via the steam workshop, build real-life sculptures, etc.
Pro Completely free to download and play any existing section of the game
The game can be downloaded and played for free, allowing anyone to try it out. There are some items that can be purchased with money, but those are optional and only decorative.
Pro Offline LAN support is pretty easy to implement
As long as users have logged in to offline mode on Steam before trying a LAN connection, LAN will work. Which could be an area of confusion, but luckily is easy enough to do if you know you need to do it.
Pro Fun and humorous gameplay with graphics and sound that fit with this theme
This game has a history of over-the-top characters, visuals, voice-overs, and various other items, which altogether create an amusing world both within the game and outside of it as well. You get a feeling a lot of thought has gone into the development of the characters as well as the world they live in. For a genre that is often filled with drab characters in a drab world, it is refreshing to see something so well fleshed out.
Cons
Con Controls are complex and often counterintuitive
New players are advised to read the Quickstart Guide.
Dwarf Fortress takes a lot of patience to learn. Even something as basic and early as world creation might take a guide to understand the first time around.
It doesn't really matter how experienced of a gamer you are; if you try to play this game without a guide, you're going to have a hard time.
Con No inherent goals or objectives
Simulation, and the resulting emergent stories, are (by design) all there is to the game. Adventurers can die and fortresses can fall, but there is no such thing as winning.
Con ASCII text-based display (alternatives available via mods)
Con Random critical hits add a significant luck element into the game and push certain types of players out
In most 'public' servers, an option called 'random crits' (short for 'random critical hits') exists by default. This allows a random percentage of your shots to multiply damage by 3 for a shot, and also remove the damage drop-off over range. This 'feature' gets increasingly more annoying as you get more experienced, as you will die more often than your opponent having x3 or more damage over you, actively making their experiences and wins less meaningful. Some classes are especially burnt by this. Medics don't use weapons often, Snipers only have secondary weapons and melees, and Spies only have their revolver (and most sidegrades of that revolver remove this ability entirely). Quickplay (a feature most newbies use to get a match) also disables these servers from appearing in the list, so there are very few 'nocrit' servers because many don't know they exist.
Con Free accounts are slightly limited
Free accounts do not get rare and cosmetic items nor as many storage slots for items.
Items are relevant as free accounts can only hold 50, while the game has much more than 50 pieces of equipment (that affect gameplay), let alone 50 weapons. While a premium account player can react to almost all situations with a counter item, with only 50 slots a newbie probably won't have or even be able to access it. A full inventory also means a free player will have to miss out or delete exclusive event items and cosmetics just to play the game as full as they can.
A free account is upgraded when any item is purchased with real money from the store.